iDiscGolf - A course finder + scorecard app for iPhone/iPod

I've been hard at work on an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch which went on sale about a little over a month ago. It's going to be on sale until May 1st, so check it out while it's only $0.99!

Below are some promo codes. These are first come first served, so please respond if you claim one to save others the hassle.

Anyway, spread the word and if you do check it out I'd love to get some feedback on ways I can improve it. Please also consider rating it in iTunes or the App Store if you have an opportunity to do so! Thanks everyone!

Replies to This Discussion

Unfortunately, there aren't any plans to do so at the moment. I'm not opposed to the idea, but I'm already heavily invested and so the cost of porting it might would be the preventative factor. Basically it all depends on how successful it is on the iPhone.

Looks really good. I like how easy it is to input the scores for all players for the holes.

It's a lot easier to criticize than it is to praise, so don't take offense to the fact that I have more comments about what to fix than what's great about it.

The first thing I noticed was how difficult it was to reduce a player's score once you already put it in. I think some might not even figure it out and then delete your app and rate it lower than it should be.

I'd like to have the option to see score as total strokes instead of relative to par.

Since you do you use the relative to par, and if you add a subtract stroke button, it may be condusive to give the start each player at each hole at the par for that hole. Then, when they hit their birdie putt, they click the green subtract button and for their bogey friend, hit the blue add button.

Along with Steve, I'd like to know where the database for the courses is. Is this going to be open to the public for user submitted data? Can I go somewhere online and write a review for a course for idiscgolf?

Any plans to add something to the courses screen? It would be cool to be able to click on Courses, then a course, and see the reviews and layouts and such.

Sorry I haven't replied to your previous posts. Thanks for the feedback. I always appreciate constructive criticism, so feel free to lay it on :) I'll try to address all of the things you mentioned, but let me know if I miss anything.

Q: The first thing I noticed was how difficult it was to reduce a player's score once you already put it in. I think some might not even figure it out and then delete your app and rate it lower than it should be. ...I saw that v1.01 had the plus and minus strokes buttons. What's the reason for the change to just the plus?

A: So here's the deal. Initially, iDiscGolf only allowed users to increase/decrease the throw count, so doing so made perfect sense. Soon after the first release a user requested the ability to associate throws w/ penalties/putts. While I wanted to meet that request as soon as possible, there were already other things I wanted to associate with a specific throw. Keeping that in mind, you can see that simply decreasing the throw count becomes a more complicated issue. If the user were able to simply decrease the throw count, they could unwittingly delete a throw which has one or multiple associations with it. This might not be a big issue now w/ only penalties and putts at stake, but in future updates I plan on associating other things w/ a specific throw as well... for example, geotagging information or the disc you used and somehow managed to get stuck in a tree. Long story short, I wanted users to see what they were deleting as apposed to simply popping a throw off of the stack. However, there is an exception to the rule which I will discuss in the next answer as I think I have an alternative solution for your concerns in regards to this issue.

Q: I'd like to have the option to see score as total strokes instead of relative to par.Since you do you use the relative to par, and if you add a subtract stroke button, it may be condusive to give the start each player at each hole at the par for that hole. Then, when they hit their birdie putt, they click the green subtract button and for their bogey friend, hit the blue add button.

A: Many users have stated a need for a faster way to enter stroke/throw data. I think I've devised a well balanced solution to this and will include it in a future update. I'll describe this system briefly from a users perspective. So, lets say you and two buddies are playing a round. The first time you "add a throw" for any of the golfers, a small little pop up will appear with the most common outcomes to choose from, using the hole's par as the default option. The user can then quickly select one of four or five options from that pop up and the given number of throws will be added to the stack. I will most likely be getting rid of the disc/flag (putt/penalty) buttons as most people find them confusing anyway, and will indeed be bringing back the decrease button, although with altered functionality. The increase button will work as it always has except for when it displays the pop up. The decrease button on the other hand will function like it used to (deleting the last throw) with the following restraint: If the user has associated additional data with any of the throws for that hole, the decrease button will be disabled for that golfer, for that hole. In the event that the golfer manually deletes any throws with associated data, or deletes the associated data for all throws made for that hole, then the decrease button would be re-enabled. Also, I'll probably find a way to show the number of throws made in addition to showing the number in respect to par. This might be an optional setting.

Q:I can't seem to sign in to write a review.

A: Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I just confirmed that writing/reading reviews isn't functioning properly and will look into the issue ASAP. I'm hoping this is a quick fix on the server end, but if not will patch the issue in the next update.

Q:Along with Steve, I'd like to know where the database for the courses is. Is this going to be open to the public for user submitted data? Can I go somewhere online and write a review for a course for idiscgolf?

A: The database accessed by iDiscGolf is hosted on a dedicated server and is only accessible via iDiscGolf. The database was initialized with data obtained from a variety of disc golf websites, DGCourseReview being the most useful. Props to Tim on having an amazing site/community! I hope to provide a similar experience on the iPhone... with some added perks of course :) I do want to open the database up for public input but as of yet haven't decided upon an approach to do so. Most likely this will be in the form of a website or Client application you can download on a PC or Mac, but have also considered granting individuals moderator access, limiting them to a subset of courses upon their request to prevent fraudulent data. Unfortunately, it's not at the top of my to do list. Keep in mind, this is a one man operation at the moment. The rate at which I'm able to implement all of these features/solutions is dependent upon the success of iDiscGolf, so tell your friends! :)

Q:Any plans to add something to the courses screen? It would be cool to be able to click on Courses, then a course, and see the reviews and layouts and such.

A: This is actually what I'm working on at the moment. I hope to do far more than that though :) In addition to reviews and course management features, I'd like to provide access to course photos, real time weather information, directions, and access to rounds played on that course.

So, with all those things on my mind, I should probably get back to work :) Thanks for the questions and feedback. I hope my response was sufficient.

iDiscGolf accesses all it's data from a dedicated server, course locations included. That database was initialized with data from variety of online disc golf resources, but primarily from DGCourseReviews.com. More details can be seen in the reply I made to Atrain's post below.

Also, if you haven't left a rating and/or review for the application, please consider doing so. The App Store is a pretty crazy place to get noticed in, especially for such a niche market, so ratings can mean life or death for the future of the application.